A woman who claimed to be a chimera called the library most Tuesdays, on the old line they never got around to disconnecting after the renovations. The call went straight to a yellowed phone hung on the back wall of the staff work room, between the pile of books that needed to be discarded and the discarded books that needed to be pulped. The staff knew the ring by the anxiety in their chests that creeped in a few seconds before the sound.  Whoever was closest to that phone when it clattered had to pick it up; no hesitation, no doubts, just suck it up and do it. The oldest of the staff members